The Poet of Great Love's New Skin

The following day. Friday morning. The skyline slowly flushed with bright morning light. As the sun rose, its rays pierced the wooden railing of the balcony, casting dappled patches of light that danced across Lanqi, stretching his shadow long and slanted across the floor. An artfully designed wicker chair sat quietly on the balcony. Beside it, on a glass tea table, lay several books on magic engineering, their pages fluttering in the breeze as if tracing the footsteps of Lanqi's reading the previous night. A gentle gust carrying the sunlight from the distant garden brushed Lanqi's face with a hint of floral scent. "Lanqi, hurry up and make my magic cards! Hurry!" The moment the Poet of Great Love was summoned, she had picked up the watering can to water the flowers as usual. But the second she spotted Lanqi leisurely feeding the birds on the ground beside her—also as usual—she marched straight over and planted two swift kicks on him. "I know, I know... I bought a ton of materials yesterday and ran tests all the way until dark... Aren't they ready now? I was just waiting to make them with you." Lanqi sleepily fed his animal friends. Ever since returning from the Shadow World, Lanqi had spent a fairly packed few days. On the afternoon of the first day, he went to visit his old man, and that evening, he asked Talia to take care of Hyperion. On the second day, he had his duel with Adams and reformed Phoenix. On the third day, he delivered the surprise to Dean Loren. Today was the final weekday. Lanqi planned to finish feeding his animal friends, craft the skin for the Poet of Great Love, and then, if any time remained, drop by the student council to see if there were any tasks he could help with. Of course, besides the Poet of Great Love, his home seemed to have gained another frequent guest. Over the past two days, Boss Cat had taken to visiting Lanqi's residence. Last night, seeing a little black cat leap onto the balcony, Lanqi had simply opened the door and let it inside. The little black cat was still sleeping in, sprawled lazily across Lanqi's sofa and utterly unwilling to get up. Meanwhile, the Poet of Great Love had vanished halfway through watering the flowers. Unbeknownst to him, she had already scurried back inside from the balcony to the living room. "Where did this little kitty come from?" Beside the sofa, the Poet of Great Love scooped up the little black cat and rocked it like a cradle, leaving it ambiguous whether she wanted to wake it up or lull it to sleep. "Meow..." Boss Cat cracked open a pair of bleary, sleep-filled eyes. Only to be greeted by the sight of Tata with a sweet, radiant smile curving her lips. It felt as though it had jolted awake too fast—since when did Tata ever smile so happily?! Wait, no—this was a demon! "Who are you, meow?!" Boss Cat instantly went on high alert, springing out of the Poet of Great Love's arms and hastily backing away to put distance between them as it interrogated her. Her eyes were far too seductive, and a distinct floral fragrance lingered around her. This was definitely not Tata! The Poet of Great Love merely stood in place, smiling faintly, showing no intention of harming Boss Cat. "She's my natal card. Be careful—don't let her Tier 1 fool you; she's the endgame boss," Lanqi called out, looking back from the balcony to explain. He stood up, folded the empty feed bag in his hand, and strolled back into the living room. Placing the bag onto a cabinet, he headed toward his card-crafting workshop. "How could she possibly... be a summon?" Hearing this, Boss Cat eyed this cheerful version of Tata with half-belief and profound shock, circling around to inspect her from top to bottom. This was plainly a living, breathing demon. Her every smile, gesture, and vital aura could never be replicated by an ordinary summon. "Poet of Great Love, it's about time we get to work." Lanqi gripped the workshop doorknob, pushed the door open, and waved to the Poet of Great Love in the living room. "Get to work? What are you two going to do?" Boss Cat cried out in confusion. It knew that Lanqi's converted giant storage room served as his card-crafting workshop. "Crafting cards, of course," the Poet of Great Love answered with a beaming smile. "Are you kidding? What kind of summon knows how to craft cards, meow?!" Boss Cat felt like the Poet of Great Love was treating it like an idiot! A magic card crafting another magic card was downright absurd. "Hmph, if it weren't for the fact that I'm only Tier 1, the magic cards I make would be the absolute greatest under heaven!" The Poet of Great Love rested her hands on her hips, boasting to Boss Cat with utter pride. "Keep bragging, you little imp!" Boss Cat had lived for so long and had never once seen a summon whose forte was card crafting. Yet the Poet of Great Love didn't bother arguing with Boss Cat. She was supremely confident; whenever she considered something a fact, she couldn't care less whether others believed it or not. "See you later, kitty." The Poet of Great Love crouched down, flashed it a cunning smile, and then trotted off toward Lanqi's workshop with light, cheerful steps. Even so, Boss Cat remained stunned by the Poet of Great Love's uncanny sentience for several seconds. To this moment, it still could hardly believe she was merely a summon. "Y-You aren't doing anything unseemly to Tata behind her back with your own summon, are you, meow?!" Boss Cat suddenly turned sharply suspicious, calling out to Lanqi just as he was about to shut the door. It could tell that this grey-haired, red-dressed summon was a succubus! Her voice carried a soul-snatching enchantment, and paired with Tata's stunning beauty, scarce few men could withstand her allure! "What on earth are you thinking..." Lanqi gave Boss Cat a bewildered look. If he were susceptible to the Poet of Great Love's influence, he would have been reduced to her puppet long ago, his mind manipulated at will by her words and demonic voice. She was an intrinsically dangerous magic card with a natural penchant for turning on her master. The prerequisite to wielding her power was a heart that would never waver in her presence. Once the Poet of Great Love stepped into the workshop, Lanqi pulled the door shut behind her. However, sensing Boss Cat's lingering suspicion, he simply left the door slightly ajar, letting the cat watch if it wished. In the living room, Boss Cat felt that Lanqi was growing stranger by the day. It needed to keep a closer eye on him! Yet it didn't quite dare step foot into Lanqi's workshop—that fellow's card crafting was downright terrifying. So it could only scurry over to the doorway, tucking its head low to peek inside in secret. It was determined to see what bizarre things these two were cooking up. ... In the center of the workshop, a sofa-like bench was positioned before the workbench. The Poet of Great Love sat down beside Lanqi. The focused air they shared made them look like two pianists preparing for a four-handed duet. The tabletop displayed an orderly sort of clutter. Every sheet of paper was meticulously categorized and laid out, bearing faint creases and smudges from frequent flipping and analysis—clear evidence that Lanqi had spent a considerable amount of time preparing. "Poet of Great Love, let's craft your demon skin first. If you could disguise yourself as another type of demon, what kind would you want to be?" Lanqi asked her. Today he intended to craft two skins for her as contingencies. Using [Polymorph: Demon] and [Polymorph: Human] as bases, there were currently two races available for her skins. Lanqi decided to start with the simpler one. Though her facial features could not be altered, he hoped to significantly change her overall silhouette if possible, so that once they reached the Northern Continent, she wouldn't be easily identified by traits like race, hair color, or outfit. "Uh... a dragon demon, I guess," the Poet of Great Love replied after a moment of thought, tapping her index finger against her lips. "Why a dragon demon?" Lanqi was slightly surprised. It was practically the polar opposite of her default succubus form, and he had never thought of her as the type to pursue raw power. As far as Lanqi knew, Talia was not a succubus herself, but of the purest demon kind. For some reason, when created using the [Hymn of Compassion], the resulting demon's race had twisted into that of a succubus on its own. "Don't you think it sounds cool?" The Poet of Great Love grinned and asked. "I see. Do you have any preferences for hair or eye color, then?" Lanqi nodded, having gathered her logic. "Eye color doesn't really matter for a demon skin... Let's go with red for the hair," the Poet of Great Love said. "Red?" Lanqi confirmed. "Yep. Red hair looks the prettiest." As she spoke, she found an ink bottle on the desk and showed Lanqi the exact shade of red she envisioned. And so, the two continued discussing the plan. Lanqi sketched out the drafts while the Poet of Great Love, acting just like an exacting client, chimed in with revisions from the side.